Reflections in Pink
by Namine09
Summary: Pinkamena is tired of working all day on her parents rock farm, she'd do almost anything to be free of it.  One day she's met with her reflection, a pony that seems so much like her...but mirrors are deceitful, can she really trust this new pony's advice?
1. Chapter 1

No smiling, no talking, no playing….No smiling, no talking, no playing…No smiling, no talking, no playing…Every day it was the same thing, and every day she wished that the stupid rocks would just be gone. Living on a rock farm wasn't exactly where she planned to spend the rest of her life, but if her parents could have their way, all of their children would stay near and do as they were told. It wasn't that they were bad parents; they were just stubborn as mules and stuck in their ways. Had she ever seen either of them smile before…? Just knowing that it was such a trouble and toil to even try and remember back to seeing their lips upturn was more strenuous than the constant push push push of the rocks.

No sunshine…No laughter, hardly any talking other than formal pleasantries and requests meant only for necessity. How much longer would she have to do this? _Set the rocks down for a moment...your hooves have to be exhausted…_They _were _exhausted! This would be the second shoe replacement this week alone, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. Her daily quota was hardly even halfway met, but her sisters were already inside cooling their hooves…she couldn't help that she was the slowest worker.

What time was it…? Leaving her rocks behind, she carefully trotted over to the sundial whose existence seemed to only be one of irony and mockery since the sun rarely ever showed itself. Still, she could make out the slightest shadow, and with a light narrowing of her eyes she could tell that it was just past midday. Midday already? She'd be here all night at the rate she was going! But she couldn't help it; she was exhausted, and not even just in body…Maybe some water would help.

With another careful trot, she made her way to the water trough that was set up for all of them, wanting nothing more than to just submerge herself and not care about dirtying it. But that would count as fun, and fun wasn't allowed…Maybe just a little dunk of her head wouldn't be too much, right…? She peered into the water and inhaled sharply at what she saw: it was her, but she looked different…her hair was curled and her eyes were bright. She raised a weary hoof up and touched through her hair, but it was still bone straight.

No matter what face she made at her reflection, the same smile stayed present and those unfaltering bright eyes stayed locked with hers. What was going on…? That was it, she'd been working much too hard today and this was an obvious sign that she needed to stop and rest for a little while, maybe even the rest of the day. Oh…but her parents would be so upset with her if she did.

"_Hey! What are you doing silly? You look concerned, serious, too concerned and serious!"_

It was talking to her! How could her reflection be talking to her? Still, it was rude not to answer back, even if you were just talking to your reflection,

"Well…at first I was concerned about being so far behind, but now…I think I have more things to worry about."

Like talking to her reflection! And what was worse was she was expecting it to talk back, as if seeing it talk the first time wasn't enough. It did more than that, it giggled, raising its hoof to its mouth in an attempt to keep the laughter suppressed,

"_Oh silly head! You should loosen up a little bit! Turn that frown, upside down!"_

As if to emphasize on this, she frowned herself and turned her head upside down to show the process of an upside down frown made into a smile. She looked like her, but there was no way that this was her…this person was a little on the "off" side.

"I can't just loosen up: there's too much work to do."

The reflected Pinkamena turned her head right side up again and cocked it slightly,

"_Work for what?"_

How could someone that was supposed to be her, know so little about the responsibilities that she held? Unless this was just someone that looked like her…

"Work on the farm. I'm supposed to be done in six more sun dial marks, but I'm not even halfway done yet…"

Her ears went back with that realization. And what was she doing wasting her time talking into a pool of water anyways? This was a waste of time!

"_Working on a farm? That sounds boooring."_

Both of their noses wrinkled. At least they agreed on something. And she really was sick of pushing all of these rocks all day long. But what else was there other than work? She'd never even been allowed to leave their farm, so she really had no idea what else there was to know about the world other than work and…rocks. Boring, gray, heavy, dirty, dull, rocks…!

"It is boring, but it's work…and mom and dad say I have to do it. It's a pony's responsibility."

The other Pinkamena looked both unmotivated and unconvinced. She could tell that she didn't really believe this was what the other thought she was supposed to do with the rest of her life, but how could she get her to see that?

"_Well there you go, your parents sound like the problem if you ask me. But! That's something easily fixed!"_

Easily fixed? What was she talking about? Her parents were so stubborn that she had no idea where to even begin in trying to get them to let up on their many many rules and forced obligations.

"It's not as easy as you'd think. They're both so stubborn and determined that I wouldn't even know where to start to try and convince them otherwise…"

As if on cue, she heard her father call out to her,

"Pinkamena! What are you doing? You need to be getting back to work, the harvest time is now and all of these rocks need to be moved."

Her father! She couldn't let him see her talking to someone while she was supposed to be working, but when her eyes went back down to the pool, all she was met with was her true reflection…She didn't even hear his approaching hoof steps,

"Pinkamena…? Pinkamena what are you doing? Stop dallying by the water and get back to work."

Never moving her eyes away from the water, she nodded to him, though she hadn't been listening enough to know what she was agreeing to. It was enough for her father though, and he soon turned and went back to their house. Being careful, she lifted her hoof up and dipped it into the water, expecting more than ripples but being met with only that…how disappointing.

Well, at least she'd had something interesting, if only for a few minutes out of her day. Her father was right; she needed to be getting back to work, but each hoof step seemed to be heavier than ever and her work at most would be continued at a trudging pace. As her nose touched another rock to push push push it onward, she heard a giggle so faint that for a moment she wondered if it was the wind rushing through the rocks…or if maybe it meant it was time for her to take another drink…


	2. Chapter 2

Finally her work was done! But she was so late in doing so that it was hardly a victory at all. At least now she could finally relax and move at a comfortable pace instead of the forced one she'd been going at all day for work. The moon was already high in the sky, and she knew that if she were to go in right now there'd be a plate set out for her to eat at her leisure. Just the idea of food was enough to make her stomach growl.

Her hooves were much more worse for the wear than she anticipated earlier in the day, but at this point she was too tired to set another shoe replacement. Her jaw locked tighter with each step she took towards her house; it seemed so much further now that she knew she could flop down on her mattress inside of it, which, despite its firm nature, was just as inviting as even the clouds that the Pegasus resided on would be to most. She quoted her parents in her head, _'A firm mattress makes for a straight back, and a straight back makes for more endurance during work.'_

Just thinking about her parents made her eyes drift to the water trough. It was still full of water, that she knew, and she was compelled to go over to it to see if the other Pinkamena would be waiting for her. But her house, her bed…they were both so close. It would only take a moment…She quickly trotted over to it, ignoring the pain in her hooves since she knew that going faster to the trough would have her in her bed sooner. That alone was well worth the burning pain.

_This is silly, I shouldn't be doing this…_But she couldn't help it, she _had _to know! Being much more cautious than she had been earlier in the day, she slowly peered her head over…and was even more shocked by what she saw. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, not even her own true reflection. What was going on? She exhaled a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding, and waved her hoof back and forth. This didn't make any sense; how come everything else was reflected? Even the bright moon was casting its silvery light bright enough into the water that it was almost searing to her sweat burned eyes.

"_BOO!"_

Suddenly the other Pinkamena shot up into the reflection with a loud shout which only caused an equally loud should to come from the pink pony gazing into the trough! Her yell echoed around her against every rock so harshly that she feared her parents would be out any moment to check on such a fuss! Aside from that though, her heart was racing and she'd almost toppled over the trough from how quickly she jerked back onto her bottom. What was her big deal, why would she scare her so badly? It was already disturbing enough to have a reflection with its own personality, but one that tried to frighten you was even worse.

Despite such a harsh scare, she could clearly hear giggling coming from the trough. Of course she was laughing…somehow she wasn't surprised. Eyes narrowing down, she pushed back up and quickly looked into the trough with a scornful gaze,

"What's the big deal? You almost scared the pink off of me!"

Still the other continued to giggle, but she managed amused words between each one,

"_I-I'm sorry, I-I couldn't help it…you looked s-so serious! L-Like…like you were peering into a trap-I couldn't help it!"_

Her eyes only halved down more into a more irritated expression as her ears went back. Ha. It didn't seem very funny to her…but hearing herself giggle was enough to lighten her back down at least a little. When was the last time she'd giggled…? Had she ever giggled before since being a tiny tiny foal…?

"W-Well I didn't think it was very funny…Anyways, why did you go so quickly?"

The giggling subsided, though her eyes showed that she was still amused with her light prank…funny, she'd never thought herself as a prankster, in any form.

"_Weeeell, I couldn't let your dad see me now could I? 'Pinkamena, you get out of that trough right now and stop playing tricks!' Blegh!"_

It was sad to think that that was probably exactly what her father would have said…But wait, why did she refer to him as her father instead of _their_ father? Maybe they really weren't the same person, but she looked so much like her, even sounded like her.

"Yeah…Yeah he probably would have said something like that. But, well, how come I can only see you in this trough? It's just a regular trough...Wait! My father! Does that mean that other people can see you?"

Her eyes widened at the idea; maybe there was a way to prove to herself that she wasn't crazy after all! Though she wasn't sure she wanted other people knowing about this…not that she was ashamed, but on the higher chance that they really couldn't see her, she wouldn't want people thinking she was starting to lose her mind.

"_Hmm, I suppose they can. Not sure, I've never had anyone try and look for me before."_

Why did all of this have to be so confusing? There was no point on lingering on that right now: the longer she stayed here talking, the louder her stomach would begin to growl,

"Earlier…you said something about changing my parents' minds with work. Well, what would you do? What should I do?"

For just a moment, the other's eyes seemed to flicker with something…something she wasn't sure she could put her hoof on, something she wasn't sure she wanted to see again…

"_Oh…well that's easy, very easy, very VERY easy."_

Her eyes widened and she was almost fidgeting with anticipation for what she should do. Even if this Pinkamena was just a figment of her imagination, it was still a part of her mind, so that meant that maybe there was some solution to her problem rooted deeply in her thoughts somewhere,

"What? Tell me, what should I do?"

Another giggle.

"_I'm not sure if you're up to it…you should go inside and eat, eat and rest."_

No! No that wasn't what she wanted to hear at all! But maybe she had a point…After all, her parents were probably already in bed for the night, so it wasn't as if she'd be able to talk to them about something so important that would no doubt lead into a lengthy conversation, right now. Ears going back against her head, she reluctantly nodded,

"Fine…"

The other Pinkamena nodded once as if that was that, and raised both of her hooves and moved them in a light shooing motion,

"_Now, go go! Off to bed with you, eat some of those mashed potatoes and sprouts and gather up your strength."_

She looked back at the house longingly, her mouth already starting to water at the idea of fresh food made by her talented mother. Wait…

"Hey, how did you know what my mother-?"

But when she looked back into the trough she was met with only her true reflection…


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning she woke to the heat of the sun against her face; warming her fur much too hot for her liking. Though the heat itself was what had woken her; she wasn't used to waking up when the sun was already in the sky since usually they all began their day just before the crack of dawn. Maybe they'd seen her feet while she'd been sleeping and taken notice of how very worn they were from the previous day. Maybe they were letting her get a little more rest until she had to start…? It was a long shot, but it was all that her mind, already nostalgic for sleep, could come up with.

Her mouth was dry and her lips smacked with the want of water as she moved from her bed and trudged to the bathroom that her and her sisters all shared. It was still clean from the night before where it should at least have some slight mess from everyone's early arousal. She nudged the faucet with her hoof and pushed down the plunger so that the basin could fill up with water, waiting until it was full enough and then pushing the faucet to stop the water. A weary and tired smile crept upon her cracked lips just before she closed her eyes and dunked her head into the water.

It was so cool and refreshing; much preferred to the baking heat of the sun that she'd reluctantly be under soon. The harvest was almost finished and that meant that they'd all have a few days of rest before it came time to transport rocks to places that needed them: a job fit for a strong colt, but they could all do it just the same; filly or not. Her lips parted under the water, letting some of the coolness rush over her tongue…but something was off. It wasn't nearly as tasty as she would have hoped and she quickly lifted her head out of the water and sputtered it from her mouth; coughing and probably creating a mess that she'd soon regret later since she'd be the one to clean it.

Her eyes blinked open against the water dripping from her eyelashes and she looked into the filled basin. Her heart lurched in her chest from the sight of the crimson swirls that were slowly darkening what should have been clean water. What was that…? Why was the water tinted such a horrible color? Trembling slightly, she dipped her head and lapped up some of the water, instantly spitting back the metallic taste. Her eyes flashed up to the mirror and stayed there in a transfixed wide gaze when she saw the pink of her fur…no longer pink, but coated in sticky crimson that was already starting to copper in hue.

She knew that color; she'd seen it many times from growing up on a farm, but never so much and certainly not on herself. With weak whimpers, she quickly stepped back from the mirror, stumbling into the bathtub, bringing the closed curtain crashing with her and ignoring the pain from doing so with such haste. The soft squish of warmth under her formed a tightening knot in her stomach as her eyes slowly and shakily moved down and to the side to see what she had fallen into…Her youngest sister's glassy stare met her eyes: already milked over white from prolonged death.

With a scream she scrambled out of the tub and backed up against the counter, feeling the burn of her tears rushing from her eyes to create caked trails of dried blood and emotion down her cheeks. How had she not noticed the smell before? Without hesitation she lost the contents of her stomach on the floor and tried to contain the dry heaves that followed. She moved up onto her wobbly legs, not wanting to see the bloody remains of her sister that were grotesquely submerged in the young filly's own blood in a mockery of hiding her fate from those that looked, under such a gruesome display.

"M-MOM!"

The call for her mother ripped from her in a voice she'd never heard from herself before, and she ran through the house in search of her parents…praying that she wouldn't meet with the one that had done this. Why had they left her but taken her baby sister who slept next to her in her own little bed? How had she not heard them come in the night before? Why had she taken so long working? If she'd paced herself and finished then maybe she wouldn't have been sleeping so hard that she wouldn't have heard her sister's slaughter!

As she ran down the stairs she cried out with the tumble of something her hooves met with at the foot of it. Her head hit the cabinets of the kitchen hard enough to dizzy her, but that didn't keep her blurred vision from focusing on the two forms that had caused her to fall. It wasn't until then that she found the culprit of her skidding so far…blood was slick after all. _No…no no no, no no no no no!_ Both of her parents were in pieces on the floor, their cutie marks sliding down the glass of the windows with such slow procession that she could almost tell from their crimson trails how long they'd been torn from her parents' flanks.

Her other sister, where was she? She didn't have time to waste and was hastily on her hooves, trying to keep her balance against the blood drenched floor as she searched the rest of her home for her sister…though she was already doubting she'd find her in better condition than she'd found everyone else. She stopped in the living room, shaking from the pool of blood that had crept from under the crack of the closet door and had already soaked through the carpet. Her hoof slowly extended, hesitating before quickly pushing the closet door open. A weak sob pulled from her as her eyes moved up to the hangers where her sister's remains had taken the place of the coats that had once been there…her flesh was still dripping more red to taint the carpet, though most of it had coagulated into sickening stalactites that hung from her bones.

The sight only brought that question screaming into her mind: why hadn't she been killed too? She fell back on her bottom, head shaking quickly in hopeful denial that any of this was truly happening-_had _happened. A light giggle brushed across her ear, so light to touch, but so harsh in this moment that her eyes quickly opened and her head sharply turned towards the feeling until her eyes were staring into the mirror that was on the inside of the closet door. The other Pinkamena was there; her curly hair coated and matted down in blood, her eyes still holding that bright gaze as did her wide grin,

"_You see? I told you it would be easy."_


End file.
